


a house united

by LillithShame



Series: Incestuous Fix-It Extravaganza [3]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, F/M, Incest, M/M, Multi, Non-Human Genitalia, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Penis In Vagina Sex, Sibling Incest, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:54:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22840585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LillithShame/pseuds/LillithShame
Summary: Rhea and Seteth (along with Flayn, of course) have settled into their lives in the monastery, and have been enjoying the company of the Eisner twins. But there is still something missing from their lives. And when said twins suddenly bring that something back, everything is turned abruptly upside down, and Rhea finds herself struggling to reconnect with someone who once meant the world to her.
Relationships: Indech/Rhea, Indech/Seteth (Fire Emblem), Macuil/Indech, Macuil/Rhea, Macuil/Seteth (Fire Emblem), My Unit | Byleth/Rhea, My Unit | Byleth/Seteth, Rhea/Indech/Macuil, Rhea/Seteth (Fire Emblem), Rhea/Seteth/Indech, Rhea/Seteth/Macuil, Rhea/Seteth/Macuil/Indech, Seteth/Macuil/Indech
Series: Incestuous Fix-It Extravaganza [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1473710
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. preface

**Author's Note:**

> If you're looking for smut, it is sadly not here-- not yet at least. This is just an absurdly long preface explaining the concept and doing some world building. And also Macuil being a jackass.  
> This features incest between siblings, as the tags may have suggested. It's not really in the fic at all so far, but it will be in the future. If you don't like that, turn back now.

In one possible near future, all of Fodlan was at war. The most deadly and vicious war since the War of Heroes, and potentially even moreso. The entire continent and its future hinged on the choices and allegiances of one young mercenary, who would be plagued by countless deaths.

This… Was not that future.

If Time truly was a river, as so many so often said it was, it was no small stream flowing ever onward. No, it was more like a massive _beast_ of a river, with many tributaries, branching off to form ponds and lakes and flow outward in search of the sea, some flowing back upon themselves, others ending abruptly, still others crawling sluggishly onwards until little more than a trickle remained…

In another Time, Lady Rhea, Archbishop of the Church of Seiros, might have been left wondering if perhaps she could have avoided unnecessary bloodshed had she taken another path on that river. In yet Another, she might have been cursing that the same young mercenary had not, while crying out for their blood.

In this Time, she did neither of those things, because in this time there was no war. Fodlan was at peace. The students of the Officer’s Academy enjoyed their carefree school days with no fear of death and horror on the horizon. Their struggles were those that children their age _should_ have been facing— matters of learning, matters of love, matters of discovering what sort of people they might like to be in the future while the prejudices of the past generations could not reach them in the place Lady Rhea had worked so hard to make safe for them.

And that was one of the biggest differences; in this Time, Lady Rhea was… _Happy_. Perhaps as close to being at peace as she had ever been, and come to terms with the horrors of her past and the mistakes she had made because of it.

Which was perhaps what made the ever present sting of loss so much more difficult for her to bear.

There were things that must be said about This Time. Ways in which it differed from the course of Time that others might consider ‘true’.

In a time not so different from this one, a young mercenary, accompanied by their father, came to Garreg Mach Monastery and became professor to a group of students, who cherished and revered them.

In this time, it was much the same— but when Jeralt returned to the monastery, reluctant as ever to be drawn back into the waiting arms of the Church of Seiros, it was not with one child, but with two.

Lady Rhea, of course, had no way of knowing that her flow of Time was any different from the so-called ‘true’ course, or even that there was any flow besides her own. She was a wise woman, but not infallible and hardly all-knowing, as her long life thus far had already taught her.

The two children, the younger brother Byleth and his elder twin sister Beleth, were not so different from their counterpart in the world that might have been. Both were brilliant tacticians and terrors on the field of battle; Beleth’s straightforward aggression in which she would not stop until every enemy had been cut down had earned her the nickname ‘the Ashen Demon’, while Byleth’s more subtle approach and the fact that enemies rarely knew he was there until his sword had already pierced their flesh had earned _him_ the nickname ‘the Ashen Ghost’.

In another life, Rhea might have welcomed them to the monastery not for who they were, but who they might become— the product of a lifetime of labour, of blood and sweat and tears, the sign she needed that her long struggle was finally coming to an end.

In this one, bittersweet though it might have been, she welcomed them as Jeralt Eisner’s children, nothing more— And if she sought them out more than one would consider necessary for the archbishop to seek out a professor, keeping a close eye on their progress, taking a quiet enjoyment in watching them learn and grow alongside their students that very nearly managed to drown out the cloying sadness she felt at the same time, well.

No one was there to judge her. She was the archbishop, after all.

In the other Time, the so-called ‘true’ time, Rhea would cling to her hidden truths until she had no choice but to reveal them, still clinging just as hard to the hope that her age-old plan might still come to fruition.

In this Time, having made peace with Sothis’ death, she held no such illusions. And so, when sitting and enjoying tea on her terrace with Beleth in the warm afternoon sun, when the young woman asked her,

“Lady Rhea, are you Saint Seiros?”

she saw no reason to do anything but blink and say,

“Yes.”

And then,

“Would you like some more tea?”

“Yes, thank you.”

And no more was said on the matter.

Quite a lot more was said about the matter, but it came in bits and pieces. Beleth did not pry. Rhea suspected that was less because of propriety’s sake and more because she didn’t see the need to. She had other things to concern herself with; she had the rowdy Blue Lions class to worry about teaching, after all.

Rhea was glad, at least, that her own ‘reveal’ had gone much smoother than Seteth’s.

“He simply called me ‘Cichol’, completely out of nowhere,” Seteth would grumble to her afterwards, over a glass of wine as they chat and pretend to be doing something of value. “I almost completely choked on my tongue!”

“We have nothing to worry about from those children,” Rhea assured him, even though she knew Seteth was already aware, and simply needed the validation and assurance. “They will keep our secret.”

“...They hear her voice, you know.”

Rhea’s grip tightened on the stem of her wine glass. It might have shattered. She relaxed, so that it did not.

“I know,” was all she could say.

“Do you… Not wish we could also…?”

“You know that I do.” She cut him off, not willing to hear the rest of it, to even entertain the thought.

She had, so many years ago, wanted nothing more than to hear her mother’s voice again, feel her hands gently running through her hair, rest her head in her mother’s lap and be soothed gently to sleep… So much so that she had been willing to do anything, _anything_ , to see her again. Things that she could only regret now.

Being surrounded by humanity for so many years, watching the way they lived their short lives, had given her perspective… Had made her realize how important it was to appreciate things while you had them.

Sothis was gone, but she still had her family.

Some of it, at least…

“Do you have any other family members?”

Their tea parties had become regular occurrences. Rather than in the gazebo with the students (who always seemed nervous when she moved among them, like she had come to judge them), or in Beleth’s private quarters, they always took tea on the terrace of her private quarters. If permitted to do so, they could sit in peaceful, comfortable silence for _hours_ …

But sometimes, Beleth asked questions.

“I have two other brothers.”

She never even considered not answering. There was simply something about Beleth that disarmed her. Perhaps it was her earnesty, or the fact that she never seemed to shy away from her questions while also respecting when Rhea did not want to answer them, or simply the fact that she loved to see that inquisitive sparkle in her eyes…

It worried her, at times, how open she felt she could be with Beleth, when secrets had been her refuge for so many years. At others, she simply felt glad that she had not chosen a different path that she could so easily have seen herself taking…

She wondered if Seteth felt so vulnerable with Byleth, or if it was simply her own weak point...

“But they don’t live here with you,” Beleth said, not a question, simply a statement.

One that cut Rhea to her core.

“No,” she said. “No, they do not.”

Beleth stared. She did not ask. But the pain Rhea suddenly felt swelling up in her chest demanded an outlet.

“Seteth has always been a person who cares deeply about family,” she said, her gaze moving from Beleth’s searching eyes to stare at the water rippling in a nearby water feature as a bird drank from it. “When I called him to join me here, I knew he would find comfort in precisely that— Family. But the others…”

Rhea closed her eyes, took a deep breath that still shook despite her best efforts. Memories flooded back to her, against her will. Remembering the war. Remembering the suffering.

Remembering seeing her brothers’ backs disappearing over the horizon for the last time, and not even knowing how to say goodbye.

She did not realize she was gripping her teacup so tightly it was shaking until Beleth’s hand came to rest over her own in a gesture of comfort.

Letting out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding in, she set the teacup down on the saucer and allowed Beleth to take her hand, lacing their fingers together. Their joined hands rested on the table between them.

“The others, it would have been unfair to ask it of them.” Her voice was a whisper. Beleth heard her anyway, or at least nodded as though she did. “I asked… A great deal of them, the last we saw each other, and I knew all they wanted was to be left alone. I wanted to… Respect their wishes.”

It became harder and harder to actually say the words. She felt as though her throat was closing up. Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes, though not insistently enough that they fell.

She had never spoken of such things with anyone, not even Seteth, for this very reason…

“But you still miss them,” Beleth said, once again not a question, and Rhea could see it in her eyes that she understand perfectly.

And that perhaps hurt worst of all.

“Of course I do,” she said. “They’re my family.”

Rhea was not the only one who suffered in silence. She was not the only one who a twin’s gaze could pierce through like an arrow through paper.

When Byleth asked him the same question, Seteth’s breath hissed as he unknowingly repeated Rhea’s words.

“Of course I do,” he said. “They’re my family. But Macuil and Indech…”

Byleth watched him with intense eyes. Seteth had to look away.

“They’ve… Never cared much for the way we live.”

It was far too simple an explanation, but it was the only one he could give. How could you explain to someone the pain, the betrayal, the cloying emptiness? Watching a ravine open up between you and the people who had been your entire world, once?

When Rhea had called him to the monastery, Seteth had gone. He’d had no other choice. Not because she forced him; because she was the only family he had left.

“I would like to see them again,” he said, the words tumbling out before he could stop them. “But I… I don’t know that they would appreciate seeing us.”

Byleth said nothing more, but Seteth could see something in his eye… Something very much like the turning of wheels.

There were many paths Time could take. In the path that some would call True, lingering just in the background, the two brothers might have remained in their self-imposed exile, unbothered by humanity and it’s predations. Or they might have been faced as enemies, so that the sacred treasures they guarded could be plundered and used in the name of ending a terrible war.

_“Macuil, Indech… Those names… They tickle at my memories… Yes…”_

For the twin professors, the sound of a third voice beside their own and heard only by them had become so commonplace that the intrusion into their thoughts was hardly even acknowledged, except by the two of them looking to the spot at the back of their room where Sothis would manifest herself, still visible only to them but looking as real and corporeal as if she were there in the flesh… Aside from the fact that she floated several feet off the ground, legs and arms crossed as she furrowed her brow in concentration.

“I should hope so,” Byleth said flatly. “If they’re Seiros and Cichol’s brothers, that would make them your sons.”

_“Silence!”_ Sothis turned to glare at him, but her cheeks flushed at the same time, as though she was embarrassed. _“I have been dormant in death for over a thousand years, you know. And_ you _can hardly remember where you’ve left the papers you need to grade; what is_ your _excuse?”_

“Don’t tease,” Beleth said, not sure which of them she was speaking to, though she couldn’t help but smile at the way Byleth frowned at Sothis and the two looked like they were about to stick their tongues out at each other.

Beleth had never been apart from her brother for more than a few days. She couldn’t even _imagine_ what it would be like not to see him for _centuries_ …

_“Indech… Macuil…”_

Sothis’ voice was so soft that if it had not been inside their minds, rather than in their ears, they weren’t sure they would have heard her at all. She had gone back to frowning in concentration.

_“Indech… Always so strong, yet so gentle, so loving…”_ She leaned against her head against her fist, humming with no tune. _“Macuil… Passionate, and as sharp-minded as he is sharp-tongued…”_

Sothis frowned even more deeply, a deep wrinkle appearing as she scrunched up her face in frustration.

_“That is all I can remember…”_ Her frustrated expression changed to one that was… More _sad_ than anything. _“Ha… Perhaps you are right… How can a mother not even remember her own children…?”_

“Sothis… I didn’t mean…” Byleth shook his head, trying to banish his own frown. “It’s not your fault that you can’t remember…”

“Your memories are coming back to you, over time,” Beleth said. She knew Byleth felt guilty because he’d teased her just moments ago, but she couldn’t help but feel just as bad.

They shared their minds and bodies with Sothis, after all— It only made sense that they shared her feelings in part as well.

“We should consider how to go about this,” she said, abruptly changing the subject in an attempt to dispel the sad, heavy tension that had come to blanket the room. “We need to know how to find them, first of all…”

After all, this impromptu meeting was not simply to discuss Sothis’ memories of the two Saints who did not reside at the monastery.

It was to discuss what they planned to _do_ about that fact.

Beleth knew from the moment she spoke with Rhea that she could not simply sit by and allow her to wallow in such pain. After all, she was a sister herself, and she couldn’t even _imagine_ the pain Rhea had to be in…

To be away from her brother for even a few days was always painful, and filled her with worry. To live like that every day of her life for _centuries_ was an experience she was almost certain she wouldn’t survive…

_“You have an incredible resource at hand, you know,”_ Sothis said, her despair forgotten, although Beleth could still see in her eyes that she was still bothered by her lacking memory. _“A school full of bright young minds with far more curiosity than good sense. Perhaps it is time you take advantage of that fact.”_

Beleth and Byleth shared a look at that.

“We really shouldn’t,” Byleth started. “We risk Seteth and Rhea’s secret by bringing anyone else into this.”

“We don’t have to give them the full details,” Beleth continued. “We’re teachers; we can phrase it academically. Once we know where to start looking, we can do the rest ourselves.”

It might have sounded like a debate, but in reality, the same thought had gone through her mind, and she was certain her thought had gone through his.

It was a twin thing.

“I did hear Claude was getting particularly interested in the history of the Four Saints,” Byleth said, almost offhand, like he was afraid to make a proper suggestion.

“You mentioned Flayn feeling uneasy about Linhardt poking around about her Crest…”

Their eyes locked again, and both of them could feel Sothis’ eyes on them, as they always were…

And this time, both of them felt like there was something more at stake than simple answers…

It was surprisingly easy, all things considered.

Perhaps Sothis was right about their students being too smart for their own good. Perhaps it was simple luck, or good timing.

Or perhaps it was something much like fate…

With their destinations in mind, Beleth traveled north to the Sreng Peninsula, chasing rumours of an ancient temple dedicated to a beast that arrived in near perfect synchronicity with the few surviving accounts of the departure of Saint Macuil from Fodlan. It had only been with great difficulty that she had managed to convince Claude to abandon his own interest in the topic, and only by implying that she would tell him the results of her own research at some uncertain point in the future…

Byleth, on the other hand, travelled west in the direction of the Rhodos Coast, following a map that Beleth could hardly make heads or tails of but which Byleth insisted made perfect sense to him. She could hardly read Linhardt’s _handwriting_ , nevermind figure out what his shorthand scribbles and terrible doodles were meant to represent, but Byleth _did_ know his Black Eagles just as well as she knew her Blue Lions…

She _was_ jealous of the much easier time he had of shaking off his informant’s curiosity, though.

“He said he didn’t want to make such a long journey, and told me to tell him if I found anything… And then he went back to sleep before I could give him a proper answer.”

She found him in the desert, hidden away in the ruins of a temple that had been built to honour him not as a saint, but as a beast. And when she laid eyes on him for the first time, she could see precisely why the Sreng people of the past had seen him as something worth worshipping, worth _fearing_ …

“Why have you come here, human?” the great magic beast before her growled, in a voiced that rumbled across the desert like a storm. “Your kind already live such short lives… Are you so eager to throw what remains of yours away?”

_“Really now! I_ certainly _don’t remember him being so rude…”_ From within her own head, a sigh. _“Or, no. That would be a lie… He is much the same as what little I remember of him…”_

It was Sothis’ voice that kept Beleth calm, kept her from reaching for her blade— Not the Sword of the Creator, as she would normally wield, but one of the regular blades she kept at hand.

Both she and Byleth had both decided that it would be for the best if they did not go to face the wayward Saints with the sword fashioned from the spine of their dead mother strapped to their back.

“I didn’t come here to fight you,” she said, putting her hands in front of her in a gesture of peace. “Only to speak to you. And ask something of you.”

“Oh?” A rumble of unfriendly laughter. “A human, come to ask something of _me_? You truly _must_ have some sort of death—”

And the massive creature, part bird and part dragon, leaned in with a deep inhale as if scenting her, cutting off his own words.

“Your scent… So familiar… You smell just like…”

For a moment she thought he had discerned what she and Byleth had only recently determined… Until he rose to his full, great height with a terrible snarl building in the back of his throat.

“...Just like that _thief_.”

_“He believes you are a descendent of Nemesis,”_ Sothis said, _helpfully_.

“Thank you for the observation,” she replied, not even bothering to keep her commentary inward as she reached for her blade. “Do you have anything _helpful_ to say?”

_“Please try not to kill my son. I do remember being quite fond of him.”_

“Duly noted!”

“...I see. So that is what Seiros had planned…”

It was difficult for Byleth to hear what the massive creature before him was saying, though it had little to do with volume— rather his voice was so deep that it hardly registered to the human ear.

“You are an intriguing creature, to have come so far on nothing but rumour… What would you ask of me?”

“Return to Garreg Mach Monastery with me,” Byleth said without hesitation. “Your brother and sister miss you dearly.”

Massive, dark eyes fixed him an an unyielding stare. To see them, and the great sharp horn that protruded from the massive turtle-dragon’s face, sent a terrible shudder along his spine. Still, Sothis’ presence in the back of his mind soothed him, made him look at the creature before him as something familiar and beautiful, rather than completely terrifying…

“Did you really come all this way just for _that_?” A low rumble almost seemed to shake the temple around them, and Byleth was afraid it would bring the stones down around them… “They could have come to me if they miss me so much…”

“They don’t know I’m here,” Byleth said. “They seem afraid you’ll reject them. Or, at least, Cichol does.”

He didn’t know Rhea as well, not the way his sister did. But from what she had told him the story was much the same…

“I live in this place to stay away from the troubles of humanity.” The great beast turned his head away, though there wasn’t much to look at. “The world outside this temple… Is a foreign place, to me.”

Byleth had thought of a thousand things he might be able to say if it seemed like it would be difficult to convince Indech to come with him, but in that moment the one thing that felt Right to say, the one thing that Sothis’ voice echoed in his head alongside his own thoughts, was,

“They’re your family.”

Another rumble, this time sounding more like a sigh than a laugh.

“That they are, human. That they are. And I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss them just as much as you say they miss me… Very well then.”

A sudden flash of light forced Byleth to cover his eyes, and his hand went instinctively for his sword. But when he opened them again, there were no enemies— And the great beast he’d been speaking to just a moment ago was gone.

Instead, in his place, was a man.

A towering monster of a man, to be sure, but not a humongous turtle-dragon. He crested seven feet and was so broad Byleth doubted his hands would meet if he were to wrap his arms around him. He was muscular, too, but almost… Soft, with a round stomach and arms and legs like tree trunks. Despite looking like he could snap Byleth in half at a moment’s notice, though, there was something warm and kind in his big eyes, that had such a familiar shade of green to them...

His deep blue-green hair fell across his shoulders in thick waves, almost to his mid-back and as untamed as a lion’s mane, but did nothing to hide the points of his ears. They would have to do something about that.

Even though he was _massive,_ though, and broader than he was by double, Byleth could see his resemblance to Seteth. Something in the curve of his broad nose, or the crinkle around his eyes (so those were genetic rather than stress lines, interesting) and most definitely in the fuzzy path of beard that grew across his jawline, though his was much more full than Seteth’s. Still not what he would call a _proper_ beard, but far closer to how his father kept his facial hair trimmed.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve taken this shape,” he said, and now Byleth could hear him properly; his voice was still a deep rumble, but coming from human vocal cords, was much easier to hear.

As if to prove it, Indech took a step forward, and nearly stumbled. Thankfully he caught himself and quickly regained his footing. Byleth wasn’t sure there would be much he could do to get him out of the temple if he were to injure himself…

“Alright then, human.” He placed his massive hands on his massive hips and smiled down on him. Somehow, Byleth felt even smaller standing next to him now than he did when he was a dragon a hundred times his size… “I would hate to make you come all the way here for nothing. I can’t make any promises about whether I’ll stay or not, but… Take me to see what those two have been up to all these years.”

“Yes… We should probably go over a few ground rules, though. First of all, Seiros and Cichol have been hiding their identities, and it’s probably safer for you to do the same… We can figure out the details later on, but for starters you should probably call me ‘Byleth’ instead of calling me ‘human’...”

“Duly noted,” Indech said with a rumbling laugh. “Byleth, huh… Funny name, that. I like it. Can’t say I’ve ever heard it before, but… It still seems familiar to me, somehow.”

Byleth wondered if he should tell him about Sothis. No, probably not… Best to save that for later. He wouldn’t even know where to begin, after all… Rhea or Seteth could explain it better.

_“He’s every bit the way I remember him… So sweet…”_ Of course, the voice of the woman herself made it a little hard to think about anything else, even if he’d gotten better at compartmentalizing it to keep him out of trouble during class or battles. _“And certainly much easier to get along with than his brother. Though I must say, he is a bit too… Earnest?”_

That… Was not quite how he would put it, but it worked, he supposed.

(Though he was a little preoccupied thinking about what that ‘brother’ comment meant, and the pang of worry it sent through him about Beleth…)

“The other thing we should attend to… Is finding you some clothes. It’s quite a nice view and all, but it may attract a _bit_ too much attention…”

Beleth ached all over, but counted her blessings that she had no broken bones and no serious wounds. The exhaustion dragged her to her knees, sword buried in the ground, rattling with a tremble that ran through her arms.

She also counted her blessings that her enemy was in just as dire straits as she was.

Macuil’s massive form lay panting on the ground, wings drooped around him. She had done her best to avoid harming him in any lasting way, but he was just as battered as she was… She’d told Sothis she would try to avoid killing him, but she couldn’t promise anything else.

A bright white light blinded her, making her cry out and shield herself with her arm, afraid that he hadn’t been nearly as beaten down as she had thought— but when she opened her eyes, the great magic beast was gone.

Lying where he had been, only moments ago, was a man.

He struggled to get to his feet, collapsed, and cursed loudly. Beleth forced herself to her own feet and staggered forward, using her sword like a walking stick, despite the fact that she knew her father would have reprimanded her into an early grave for mistreating her equipment in such a way…

“You… _You_ … Eugh!” When he once again failed to climb to his feet, the collapsed man drove his fist into the ground hard enough that Beleth would have worried about him hurting himself if he hadn’t been punching sand. “Finish it, then! Don’t just stand there gawking at me with those… Those _empty eyes_ of yours!”

“I didn’t come here to hurt you,” Beleth said, her voice shaking from the strain and exhaustion but as even as she could manage. “I didn’t even come here to _fight_ you. Like I _told_ you, all I wanted was to ask something of you.”

From his place in the sand, Macuil turned over to glare at her. The piercing green of his eyes reminded her of Rhea— And so did the fact that it felt like he was boring right into her _soul_.

“As if I would ever do a _favour_ for someone who reeks of that _Bandit King_ —”

“For the love of— Your sister sent me!”

Macuil’s head snapped up so fast she was worried he might actually have hurt himself, but he simply crinkled his nose at her.

“Seiros,” he growled. “I should have known… What does that beast want with me now? Can’t she just leave me in peace…?”

_“What a way to speak about his own sister!”_ Sothis huffed in her head. Beleth could practically picture her floating there with her hands on her hips, giving him a stern look, though she did not manifest even to her own eyes. _“Even after taking such a beating, he cannot keep his mouth shut!”_

_I thought you didn’t want me to hurt him?_ Beleth thought, but Sothis didn’t respond, and she wasn’t sure whether that was because she wasn’t paying attention or if it was because she was more concerned with other things.

“Well… Saying she sent me might be a little generous,” Beleth admitted. She sighed and managed to stand for a few moments without her knees shaking, and so she sheathed her sword as a signal of goodwill, or at least a signal of not actively wanting to harm him. “I chose to come here of my own will. But I came because of her. Because she misses you, and is suffering because of it. ...Your brother, too.”

The man before her tilted his head at her, in a way that reminded her of a bird or perhaps a confused dog.

“You came here… For _that_? You were prepared to face me in combat to tell me my siblings _miss me_?”

“Like I said, I didn’t come here intending to fight you.” Feeling confident, she extended her hand forward, offering to help him to his feet. “But I was willing to do so, yes. For the sake of reuniting a family.”

As he stared at her offered hand as though considering whether she was going to strangle him with it, she took a moment to consider him. His hair was the same sandy, almost swampy colour of green that his feathers had been, and it was _long_ — long enough to shield his backside from view even though he was naked as the day he was born (she assumed, since she really didn’t know how baby dragons birthed by the goddess were born). It was almost… _Fluffy_ , though, not like Rhea’s. Much more like Sothis, with the way it stuck out at all of the oddest angles…

He didn’t look much like the statue, that she could say for sure. But she’d sort of expected that, and besides, a lot of that was probably to do with the fact that he wasn’t dressed. Still, while she assumed he was tall (it was hard to tell when he was on his hands and knees), he was a lot… _Skinnier_ than she would have expected.

Prettier, too, although she had an easier time with that… After all, he was Rhea’s brother, wasn’t he? She should have expected him to be beautiful… Even if it was a little ruined by the fact that he was staring at her like he’d just smelled something terrible.

The look on his face melted into one of resigned annoyance as he accepted her hand and allowed her to help him to his wobbly feet. He looked like a newborn foal just finding its legs for the first time— or, with the length of his hair, a princess from a fairytale who had just woken up from a centuries’ long sleep…

“Fine, human. You’ve managed to… _Intrigue_ me.” He snorted. “For you to know who I am, who _they_ are, and to still drag yourself to this forsaken place just to try and convince me to see them? Your nerve deserves at least _some_ credit, I suppose…”

Beleth certainly didn’t let on that she really had no idea what he was talking about, but she let him lean against her slightly as he found his footing before taking a step back to let him stand on his own.

“I will let you take me to them, then. Though considering the beating you and I delivered on each other, I hope you’re prepared for a long journey…”

“I’ll live with it.” After all, it wasn’t as though she had a choice.

Sometimes it was strange to have someone constantly living in your head, especially when that person also lived in the head of someone else. But sometimes it was also quite convenient.

_“Your sister will be delayed by several days, but she will be along shortly,”_ Sothis told him, soothing his worries that only she knew of, because his feelings were her feelings. _“She has had… A few unforeseen setbacks.”_

Though he still worried, he knew Sothis would tell him if there was anything _worth_ worrying about. Instead he turned his full attention on the task at hand…

“Remember— their names are Rhea and Seteth.”

“Don’t worry, kiddo— I got it the first ten times you said it.”

Indech chuckled at him and gave him a wink. Byleth shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to badger you, it just seems like a big adjustment for you to make so quickly. I want to be certain you’re not going to blurt out their _other_ names by instinct.”

“Fair enough!” Another deep chuckle. “But I think I can handle it. Worst case scenario, I just keep my mouth shut until I get used to it, right? _That_ I know I can do.”

For all his (justified) concerns, for all his wondering if he was going to regret doing this without even warning Seteth and Rhea, Indech’s reassurances were… Well, reassuring. Was that Sothis’ influence making him trust him despite the rest of his life so far telling him why doing that so quickly was a terrible idea, or was that just… Indech?

Their journey together so far had been companionable. Indech seemed quite content to let Byleth lead the way, going along with everything he said, though he got the impression that he was watching him quite _intently_ the entire time…

“And Cethleann? What’s she going by again?”

“Flayn.”

“Cute.”

Indech started humming. The tune tickled the back of his brain, sounding familiar, but this time he _knew_ it was Sothis and her own burgeoning memories rather than his. He could practically _feel_ her clawing at the walls of his mind, as though that would help her memory return any faster…

When they reached the gates of Garreg Mach Monastery, they entered alongside one of the travelling market caravans, and thanks to the crowd avoided the usual ruckus Byleth had to deal with whenever he returned from a mission or other field trip. Of course, Indech being head and shoulders above everyone else around them meant he was still drawing a _lot_ more attention than Byleth felt comfortable with…

“Greetings, professor! Nothing to report!” The gatekeeper gave him his usual enthusiastic salute, but faltered slightly at the sight of Indech— Specifically his chest, before he tilted his head and helmet up to actually be able to see his face. “A-and who is your… Friend?”

“I’ve brought him to see Lady Rhea,” Byleth answered immediately. It wasn’t a lie, technically— or at all— but it also didn’t answer his question in any way. He hoped he was either too dumbstruck or too nice to notice.

“O-of course! Give her my regards! O-or don’t… And have a nice day, Professor!”

Part of the reason Byleth wanted to move on quickly was because he had absolutely no explanation for who this mysterious humongous stranger was. What struck him in _that_ particular moment, of course, was the fact that they hadn’t bothered to think of a name for him…

He hoped Beleth would use the extra time she apparently had to arrive more prepared than him.

“He seemed friendly,” Indech said, taking the time to look around and almost wonder at the people moving about the halls. He’d seemed just as distracted when they first arrived and they’d been caught up with the caravan, but thankfully he was easy for Byleth to drag along behind him, even if he had to put a guiding hand on his back or take him by the wrist a few times…

Well, he supposed that if he’d spent the last several centuries in a ruin, he would be impressed by the monastery and its people as well…

“Most people here are quite friendly,” he said as he led him towards the stairs to the second floor, glad that they had arrived coincidentally while classes were in session. He was sure his students would be eager to greet him as soon as Hanneman’s lecture let out, and he wanted to at least get Indech in the hands of someone who would know what they were doing before he was mobbed by curious teenagers… “Maybe… Too friendly, sometimes.”

Hopefully his students and his sister’s students wouldn’t bother the poor man too much. If he _was_ planning to stay, Byleth would have to have a word with them about that...

The guards of the Archbishop’s audience chamber hardly batted an eye at Byleth, although he noticed one of them do a double-take when they processed that he had a giant with him. Still, before either of them could say anything, he had already ushered Indech inside.

Rhea didn’t call her seat a throne, but that was what it was, for all intents and purposes. Byleth wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her sit in it even once; he wondered if Beleth, who knew her better than he did, ever had. But she was usually standing in front of it, if she was in the audience chamber and not in her office.

As she was now, being briefed on the results of a mission by Catherine while a disinterested looking Shamir stood at her side, occasionally offering comment when called upon to do so. The usual loose gathering of monks was conspicuously absent, which Byleth was glad for; if he had made a mistake, or if Indech _happened_ to make one, there would be fewer witnesses.

He went to step forward and get Rhea’s attention, but Indech’s massive hand came down on his shoulder. He looked up to see if something was wrong, and…

The look on his face made Byleth _freeze_.

Byleth had literally brought this man out of a ruin for the first time in centuries, had helped him learn how to _walk_ as a _biped_ again, but seeing the look on his face? Byleth knew that absolutely none of that could compare to the absolute _awe_ he was feeling on seeing Rhea. It was like someone being locked in a dungeon for decades and being led out into the sun again…

Well. If Byleth had been separated from _his_ sister for that long, he was sure he would feel the same.

He still felt like he should say something. Rhea was too involved in her conversation with Catherine to have taken notice of them yet. But Indech took the choice from him and stepped forward, leaving his hand on Byleth’s shoulder until he was out of his reach, taking slow, almost cautious steps towards the other end of the room…

Rhea looked away from Catherine, finally— Whether she had a different reason to do so or because she actually noticed that someone else had entered and watched to acknowledge them, he had no idea.

And she gasped, loudly.

“It’s— You’re—” She raised her hands to cover her mouth, almost like she didn’t trust herself not to blurt out something incriminating…

Or maybe he was reading too much into things, and she was just understandably overwhelmed.

“L-Lady Rhea?” Catherine looked shocked by the sudden display of emotion on the normally serene Rhea, who now had a shimmering to her eyes like she was about to start crying but was holding herself back. She followed Rhea’s line of sight to Indech, looked startled at not having noticed he was there, then looked back at Rhea.

Indech said nothing, simply stood there halfway between the door Byleth was still standing by and Rhea at the other end of the room. He almost looked like he was frozen in place, and the way he was nervously opening and closing his fists didn’t exactly _look_ reassuring… Byleth crept along the back wall and around, keeping an eye on him, just in case…

Then, with a chuckle that might have wavered because of nerves but which Byleth was pretty sure was because his own eyes had gotten watery and unlike Rhea he wasn’t doing anything to hold himself back, Indech said, “H-hey there… Rhea. Been a long time, hasn’t it?”

He raised his hand to awkwardly wave in a way that Byleth found charming, but a moment later he must have found his confidence, because he was suddenly striding towards Rhea.

Catherine and Shamir looked uncertain, as though they were ready to go for their weapons at a moment’s notice, but Rhea pulled one of her hands away from her mouth to signal them to hold. She was losing the fight against her own tears, which were now overflowing and streaking down her face.

Wordlessly, Indech strode straight up to her and stopped. For a moment, the two of them simply stood there, staring at each other with tears in their eyes, until…

Indech reached out and pulled Rhea into a hug. Not just a _hug_ , though— He all but crushed her against him, scooping her right off of her feet!

Rhea stiffened, her tears slowing as her eyes widened to roughly the size and shape of saucers. Seeing her grabbed like that so suddenly, and the shocked look on her face, was obviously enough to override the fact that Rhea had told her to hold, because Catherine stepped forward like she was going to separate the two of them herself—

And then Rhea _laughed_.

“You’re… You’re here!”

She could hardly get the words out for how hard she was laughing, sounding almost manic. Rather than simply being held up by Indech, she wrapped her arms around him in turn; he was so big around that she couldn’t even get her arms _completely_ around him, but she dug her fingers into the shirt Byleth had managed to find for him so tightly it almost looked like the material was going to rip.

“I can’t believe it…” Her laughter had devolved into giggling, but at the same time those giggles were joined by miniature hiccuping sobs that had her shoulders shaking almost violently. “How did you… _Why_ are you…?”

“Lady Rhea, is everything alright? I thought I heard—”

Byleth was content to stand on the sidelines and watch what was going on, to make sure that he and Beleth hadn’t made some terrible mistake. Until he heard _his_ voice.

Byleth didn’t second guess himself or his sister very often, but all it took was hearing Seteth _freeze_ in the middle of the sentence, dropping the heavy books he was carrying with a loud _THUNK_ , to put ice shards in his lungs and make him consider running straight out the door.

He resisted the urge, hard as it was, and dragged his eyes over to where Seteth had just emerged from Rhea’s office.

“Seteth,” Rhea breathed, her voice watery through her continued hiccuping as she freed one hand from where it was wrapped around Indech’s neck to wipe the tears away from her eyes, sniffling, as Indech shifted so he was holding her up with only one arm looped under and around her. “Look— it’s a miracle, surely.”

Byleth almost wanted to argue with that (though since he _had_ been helped by a Goddess, even if he and Beleth and their students had done most of the work, was it technically a miracle?), but stayed out of it.

It was _their_ moment; he was simply a spectator.

“It’s…” Seteth swallowed heavily, staying where he was in the doorway, like he was scared to come any closer. “It’s certainly…”

“Hey,” Indech said, cutting off whatever Seteth was struggling to say. “It’s been a long time, huh? Come over here so I can get a good look at you.”

Seteth hesitated— bending over to pick up his dropped books and set them by the door in a neat pile to prolong having to make a choice one way or another— before cautiously walking forward.

The nervousness and uncertainty Byleth felt about having done this in the first place disappeared in an instant when Seteth dropped whatever sense of propriety was holding him back and covered the rest of the distance in a few long strides that didn’t have an _ounce_ of hesitation in them, until he too was being scooped up effortlessly by Indech in his free arm.

It was a surprise to see Seteth— proper, stern, serious Seteth, who Byleth had barely even seen crack a smile in the first few months he’d known him (not that he was one to talk)— be scooped up like a child and bury his face in someone’s shoulder to hide the fact that he was tearing up.

“It’s been a long time,” he agreed, voice cracking in a way Byleth had never heard before, and had only come close when Seteth had been telling him about what had happened to Flayn to make him so paranoid for her safety…

Byleth was so wrapped up in watching the reunion unfolding in front of him that he’d forgotten Catherine and Shamir were even there, like he was sure Rhea and Seteth had. He only noticed when Catherine sidled up to him— not easy for a woman in armour, but that kind of skill was why she was one of the best even among the Knights of Seiros, he supposed.

“Who is he, anyway?” she asked, casually, but he knew Catherine was one of the people who would do _anything_ for Rhea and there was a threat to him _and_ Indech hidden in there if something bad happened.

It was hard to picture now, though, no matter how nervous he had been. With the way Rhea and Seteth, devoid of their usually carefully maintained composure, were crying all over Indech, who was crying like a baby right alongside them… 

“Just an old friend I tracked down for Lady Rhea and Seteth,” he said, because it was the closest thing he could say to the truth without telling Catherine more than she needed to know.

“It’s… _Nice_ , seeing her this happy,” Catherine said, sounding almost in awe, and Byleth could see why.

Rhea almost always had a calm, serene smile on her face, the sort that you’d expect to see shining beatifically down on you from a church fresco, but the way her hiccuping laughter was echoing around the room without a care in the world as Indech swung her and Seteth back and forth like they were nothing more than dolls (and next to him, they might as well have been)— it was infectious, and even Seteth was starting to laugh, alongside a very uncharacteristic sniffling.

She looked less like some ethereal figure and more like a _real person_ than he had ever seen her since coming to the Monastery— he could see how what his sister saw in her. He only wished she had been there to see it, so it could have warmed her heart the way seeing Seteth warmed his…

Before he could go too far down the path of wondering what was keeping her, his attention was drawn by Indech setting Rhea and Seteth back on their feet— reluctantly, it seemed— and reaching up to wipe tears from his own eyes.

“I can’t believe…” Seteth started, stopped, and shook his head. “Nevermind. I’m… Glad you’re here. Will you… Be staying long?”

“Our home is yours as long as you wish to stay,” Rhea followed up quickly, her eyes sparkling in a way Byleth hadn’t seen since she first laid her eyes on Beleth.

“Not sure yet,” Indech admitted truthfully, with a shrug of his huge shoulders. “This place is… _Interesting_. Might be too much for me, but… I couldn’t just let your friend there come all the way to find me just to turn him away.”

Indech turned to him as he folded his hands behind his head, and Byleth immediately stood at attention, the way his students always did when they were up to something…

Not that _he_ was, but he and Beleth _had_ gone behind Seteth and Rhea’s backs to find their brothers and bring them back to the monastery, and even though it was obvious they were happy about seeing Indech…

Well, he still felt like a child about to be reprimanded for touching his father’s weapons when he wasn’t around, or pulling his sister’s hair to see if she would cry, or any of the other many stupid things he’d gotten in trouble for as a kid…

“Byleth,” Seteth said, acknowledging him for the first time, and suddenly he was the only thing Byleth could look at.

_“It baffles me how he took so very long to realize your feelings for him; whenever he walks into the room he should feel your eyes burning holes in him.”_

Byleth had gotten used to ignoring Sothis’ voice, but that still startled him enough that he had to try not to react to it; right now was _not_ the time for her teasing, and she had been so unusually quiet all day that it was like having someone sneak up behind you and speak right into your ear.

He tried to project a thought of him frowning at her, but had no idea whether it was effective or not.

Seteth stepped away from Indech and towards him. Catherine and Shamir had apparently decided they needed to be elsewhere _right now_ , and considering everything that was going on, he didn’t blame them.

“That was…” He paused, accentuated by the creaking of the massive doors as they shut behind the knights who had escaped before whatever they were obviously not meant to witness. Seteth took the chance to think hard about what to say next; Byleth could tell based on the way his brow furrowed and a little line appeared just between his scrunched up eyebrows. “Reckless of you. And I shudder to think how you even managed to track down the information you needed.”

Byleth looked down and away from him. He’d been prepared for a scolding from the beginning. He was glad Seteth had no idea where he and Beleth had gotten their information from; that would be a proper lecture, if he thought they had done anything to let on to any of the students what was going on—

Seteth hugged him.

Seteth was much more physically affectionate than people would probably assume— he just liked to keep it private, behind closed doors, and Byleth could respect that even if he liked seeing Seteth get flustered at the slightest public display of affection. So it wasn’t that he wasn’t used to Seteth hugging him. But it still caught him completely by surprise, enough that he froze up and didn’t return the hug for a solid couple of seconds— until Seteth squeezed him even tighter, bringing him out of his surprise and into the reality where he was being practically crushed, almost as hard as Seteth himself had been just moments ago, and all he could do was wrap his arms around him in turn and pat him on the back a bit awkwardly.

“Thank you,” Seteth murmured in his ear, voice barely more than a whisper. “Whatever you had to do— thank you.”

“It was nothing,” Byleth said, and meant it. “I couldn’t just stand by knowing there was a family who was separated like that, knowing I could do something about it.”

Seteth laughed, and Byleth was confused for a moment, which immediately melted away into warm comfort when Seteth turned his head to nuzzle into his hair. It was a rare, open display of affection— no, not rare, but rare in front of other people…

Rhea and Indech were his family, though. Maybe they didn’t count.

“You baffle me,” Seteth said, with such fondness that Byleth knew instantly it was a compliment of the highest order.

Byleth wanted to stay like that forever, but Seteth stepped away, and it was lost— and before he could do anything about that fact, a fondly smiling Rhea (which was adding a nice dusting of pink to Seteth’s cheeks, whereas Byleth didn’t really mind) took a step forward and asked,

“So, where is your sister?”

And as Byleth stared at her, wondering exactly what kind of lie or half-truth he was going to come up with, _that_ was the moment Sothis of course chose to remain silent.

Beleth felt like she had been trampled by an entire army’s worth of horses.

Every part of her, head to toe, _ached_. She more than made up for not having any serious wounds by being bruised all over, bruises which loved to remind her they were there with every step her horse took, and since she had already lost so much time in the sheer distance of her travels compared to Byleth, she hadn’t been able to risk going as slowly as she would have liked.

She was still undecided as to which was worse, though; the pain from her mostly healed but still sort injuries, or the pain of having to put up with her travelling companion for the duration of their trip.

_“Your arrival seems to be much anticipated_ ,” Sothis said just as Beleth was starting to zone out, her horse moving steadily through the busy streets of the town that sat below the monastery. She perked up a bit at that; Byleth had surely already returned, and so Rhea was likely expecting her, not to mention her students and her father…

“Ugh, they really do pile in like bricks in a wall, don’t they?”

Of course, her good mood was only inclined to last as long as Macuil was willing to keep his mouth shut.

Beleth liked to think of herself as a relatively patient person— the fact that she’d managed to deal with having Felix in her class was testament to that. But Macuil tested her patience in a way she had never really experienced before, and that was coming from someone who had been dealing with Sylvain for _months_.

She looked back at him to make sure he was still with her— as if his snide comment hadn’t proven that, but she’d noticed he was prone to distraction, or following his own whims instead of her guidance.

He was sneering at nothing in particular, just scrunching up his nose as if the whole place had a nasty smell to it. The townsfolk at least didn’t seem to care much about his behaviour; they lived close enough to the Officer’s Academy that they had probably seen more than their fair share of snooty nobility turning their nose up at the common folk, and despite his haphazard clothing and simple travel arrangements, Macuil gave the same sort of impression.

Although during their time together Beleth had more than figured out that it wasn’t class Macuil took issue with, it was species. He had no love for humans, which he had been happy to tell her for the entire duration of the trip, making it obvious that he was only tolerating her presence because he was ever so slightly interested in what Rhea and Seteth had been doing in the last thousand years since he had seen them.

Beleth reminded herself, for not the first time since she had started on her way back to Garreg Mach, that she was doing this for Rhea. And that Rhea wouldn’t thank her for causing her brother grievous bodily harm, no matter how much she felt the urge…

“We’re almost to the monastery,” she said, having figured out a few days ago that the best way to deal with Macuil was to completely ignore whatever he was saying; staying silent herself was usually the preferred option, but she didn’t always have the option. “You remember what we talked about, right?”

“Of _course_ ,” Macuil scoffed. “I’m not _simple_.”

She was almost— _almost_ — tempted to argue with him about that, but it was far more trouble than it was worth, and so she kept her mouth shut.

Beleth wondered if any of the scholars who studied Saint Macuil knew what he was like— she highly doubted it, or people surely wouldn’t be worshipping him. A self-important, constantly annoyed man who couldn’t go more than a few minutes without talking about how inferior and terrible humanity was…

Well, she couldn’t really see much worth worshipping.

_“I have no idea how I could have raised a son so_ rude _,”_ Sothis huffed in her head, and Beleth could practically imagine her pout, and the way she would put her hands on her hips and lean forward when saying such a thing… _“If I could, I would teach him something about manners here and now!”_

It made a rare, small smile grave Beleth’s face thinking about just that— but it was wiped off abruptly when Macuil urged his horse forward until he was ahead of her, and she had to do the same to keep up before he ended up doing something that got _both_ of them in serious trouble.

“Let me do the talking,” she said firmly.

Out of her corner of her eye, she saw him roll his eyes.

She missed Felix.

Beleth took her sweet time getting their horses comfortable in the stables after they passed through the gates without issue. Part of her wanted to rush; she wasn’t sure she had ever been apart from Byleth for so long, and she was eager to see Rhea.

Another part of her was happy to delay having to bring Macuil into the Monastery proper as long as she could without seeming suspicious.

He had quieted down since they had passed through the front gates, at least; he was too busy looking around, observing everything with a keen eye and only a little bit of a scowl to start spouting off the same inflammatory things he’d been saying on the way in. Beleth just hoped he wasn’t plotting on how best to torch the place, or something along those lines. She and Byleth hadn’t been completely convinced they were doing the right thing when they had left to go find Rhea and Seteth’s brothers; she would hate to be proven right.

That blissful silence got more and more worrying when she led him from the stables back around to the main part of the monastery, but her worries were easily broken up when she heard an all too familiar, “Greetings, professor!”

“Hello,” she said, then added, teasingly, “Anything to report?”

“Only that Seteth asked me to tell you to come and see him as soon as you return! He didn’t say what it was about, but it sounded important! So… Consider that reported!”

Although comforted by the familiar boundless enthusiasm of her and her brother’s favourite gatekeeper, Beleth couldn’t stop the sick, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she heard that. It had been a while since Seteth was so cryptic with her. Had something terrible happened?

No— no, if something bad had happened, Byleth would have had Sothis tell her, she reasoned. Still, a summons like that didn’t bode well, especially since Byleth had arrived before her. Had something gone wrong with _his_ arrival with Indech, perhaps?

Oh, well. There was no real time to worry about it. She would go straight to Seteth’s quarters, like he had asked.

_“Your brother knows you’re here_ ,” Sothis said, actually being helpful. _“He and the others are waiting for you in Rhea’s quarters.”_

Rhea’s quarters? A place Beleth was very familiar with, but she hadn’t seen anyone other than herself and Seteth go in there the entire time she’d been at the Monastery. Though she supposed it wasn’t _too_ weird for Byleth to be in there, since he was her twin… And Indech and Macuil were her brothers just as much as Seteth was…

Still, it felt strange bringing someone to Rhea’s room— but she powered through the feeling and led Macuil through the winding halls of Garreg Mach, deliberately avoiding main hallways so she wouldn’t risk running into her students or any of her fellow staff… She and Macuil had discussed his cover story on their long, slow trip back to the monastery, but she didn’t want to give it a field test until they had actually spoken with Rhea and Seteth, just in case anything needed modifying or something didn’t line up, and to make sure everyone was on the same page.

She also didn’t want Macuil interacting with too many people when she was well and truly too exhausted to be paying him much attention. Judging by how he had acted around the townsfolk, when he wasn’t even talking to any of them, it would go over like a ton of bricks. And Beleth knew that as soon as news spread that she was back, she was going to end up swarmed.

That was the price of being popular, she supposed…

They slipped up to the second floor without attracting much attention, except for from a few monks and knights who said hello and welcomed her back in passing, and one who passed along the same message the gatekeeper had given her— and once they reached the staircase up to Rhea’s personal quarters, there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Macuil had remained blissfully silent the entire time, but as they were climbing the stairs to Rhea’s room, he scoffed and said, “Rather _opulent_ , isn’t it? My _sister_ has certainly set herself up well here; it’s quite a quaint scam she’s running.”

Beleth turned to glare at him, stopping in the middle of the stairs, and he in turn raised an eyebrow at her like he was daring her to say something. And in the end, she decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of arguing with him.

In part because, while she didn’t exactly appreciate the tone he was talking about Rhea in, it wasn’t like she really had a _better_ read on the situation.

She knew more about Rhea— _Seiros_ — than possibly anyone outside of her own family, but there were still plenty of things she kept secret, even from her…

She didn’t break her gaze, however, and soon Macuil chose to roll his eyes, look away, and shut his mouth rather than play at a staring contest with her. Good. He could be as much of a brat about it as he liked, as long as Beleth didn’t have to listen to him anymore.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Beleth hesitated— then, took a step back and nodded to Macuil, letting him move around her to go through the doorway first. He gave her a suspicious eye, but was apparently just as tired of following around after her as she was of having him do so, and easily pushed past her to go through the doorway like he’d lived there all his life.

When she followed him through, giving a good five feet of distance, she was made instantly aware why her instincts had told her to do so.

She hadn’t even seen him coming; if it had been an enemy attack, they would very likely both be dead, or at least grievously injured. But in an instant a huge, hulking figure had scooped Macuil up, causing him to make a positively indignant squawking noise as he was unceremoniously crushed to a barrel chest attached to possible the _largest_ man she had ever seen in her life.

“Cuila!” he said enthusiastically, followed by booming laughter. “When they told me you’d be here, I called them liars, but look at you! In the flesh! Never thought I’d see the day!”

“Indech, what are you— Oh.”

Beleth had to lean around the hulking man who she could know, by context, safely assume was Indech— the other brother, who Byleth had gone to find.

He didn’t look much like his statue, she noted, but then, neither did the other three.

Seteth lingered just behind him, but she didn’t see any sign of her brother or Rhea— and by process of elimination, assuming they _were_ there (and she couldn’t even imagine Seteth and Indech being in Rhea’s quarters without _Rhea_ ), they had to be out enjoying her and Rhea’s favourite spot on the balcony.

“Indech, you lumbering oaf, put me down right this second before you— you break a rib or something!” Macuil protested, but it was hard to take him seriously when his face was flushed a bright red and his hair was puffing up in every direction out of embarrassment.

“Nope. Not happening. If I let you go, you’re just going to take off running again, the same way you always do whenever someone shows you the slightest bit of affection.”

“You absolute— do you really think I would trek here across some gods-forsaken desert, a frigid _tundra_ , and through these horrific mountains, _injured_ , just to run away at the first sight of you? You’re not the handsomest man I’ve ever met, but—”

“Wait, _injured_?”

Beleth felt Seteth’s eyes on her, and as she looked away and tried to feign innocence, she heard Sothis in the back of her mind scoff and say,

_“It was a necessary act of violence. He would not even_ consider _pausing to listen to what you had to say until you had fought him to stand-still. If he wishes to judge you, perhaps he should have gone to fetch his brother himself, rather than wallowing in his desire until the two of you took it upon yourselves.”_ She huffed again. _“And if you ask me, he needed a bit of an attitude adjustment anyhow. Though I cannot say how effective that beating was at that…”_

She couldn’t argue with Sothis, but then, she still felt a little embarrassed— and so she merely chose to keep her eyes on Indech and Macuil rather than looking over at him, as though she couldn’t feel Seteth’s eyes on her or see his shocked expression out of the corner of her own eye.

“Yes, you great brute, _injured_ , which is certainly not being helped by you crushing me like that—” Macuil let out another surprised sound, more of a squeak than a squawk this time, as Indech suddenly took him by the shoulders so he could hold him at arm’s length— effortlessly, as though Macuil weighed nothing, which to be fair, compared to the living mountain that was apparently Indech, he probably did.

“What. Are you doing.” Macuil’s voice sounded low, dangerous enough that Beleth’s hand twitched reflexively for her sword— but Seteth and Indech both seemed utterly unfazed, and given that Seteth was rarely unfazed when it came to matters of safety, she figured it was safe enough that she could relax.

Indech didn’t respond— still holding Macuil at arm’s length he looked him thoroughly up and down, even turned him about to look at him from different angles, Macuil grumbling curses and complaints the entire time.

After a few rotations he seemed to be satisfied, and set Macuil down on the ground, though he kept a heavy hand on his shoulder like he really _was_ afraid he was going to run if given the chance.

“Didn’t think you were the kind of man to let a few scrapes and bruises get in your way, Cuila.”

“I’m _not_. But a crushed ribcage is another story, particularly considering the several days I’ve just spent on the back of a horse.” He snorted and brushed Indech’s hand off. “Since I’m here for whatever reason, all I want to do is enjoy my first properly heated bath in a millenia, and sleep in a real bed. So whatever little meet and greet thing we’re doing here? Let’s just get it over with.”

“A thousand years and you haven’t changed a bit.” Indech’s laugh was a comforting, warm rumble. “I missed you, Macuil.”

The sincerity in his voice must have caught Macuil off guard, because where he’d been trying to shoulder his way past Indech a moment ago, he stopped and looked up at him. Beleth swore she saw the very beginnings of a blush creeping onto his face as he shook his head and sighed.

“...I missed you too, Indech,” he said, through gritted teeth like he had to force it out, but the way he stepped forward to wrap his arms as much around the huge man as he could and allowed Indech to wrap him up in a much less vertically-oriented hug told a different story. Then, when he pulled back from the hug, “And you as well, Cicha. Though I can’t believe you’ve kept that pathetic excuse for facial hair you call a beard all these years. I hope Seiros at least had the good sense to use all of this nonsense to make herself _look good_.”

“She goes by Rhea now,” Seteth reminded him, a stern edge to his voice, which Macuil waved off.

“The only human around to hear is your little gofer over there,” he said as he moved past Indech and headed deeper into Rhea’s quarters. “We can all drop the pretense.”

Seteth let out a deep sigh and buried his head in one hand, lingering even as Indech followed, already starting up a boisterous conversation as they headed down the hallway. Beleth made to follow, but stopped by Seteth.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Fine, fine,” he said with another sigh. “I simply forgot what a… _Character_ my brother could be, that’s all.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Beleth said in turn, deadpan, and was a little pleased that it earned a chuckle and a shake of the head from Seteth. She didn’t spend nearly as much time around him as Byleth did, for obvious reasons, but she was still glad.

“I suspect introducing him to life here at Garreg Mach will be… An _interesting_ challenge.” Then, a thoughtful pause. “If he wants to stay.”

“Do you want him to stay?”

Seteth looked surprised by the question, his eyes widening, and then he turned to look thoughtful— and judging by his line of sight, to see if there was any chance of Macuil actually overhearing him.

“...Yes,” he decided finally. “He may be difficult at times, but he is still family. And having everyone back together again… It will be well worth whatever difficulties might arise as a result.”

Seeing the gentle smile on Seteth’s face, Beleth couldn’t help but smile too. Whatever concerns she had had about bringing Macuil back after listening to him for their entire trip, they— well, didn’t quite _disappear_ , but certainly seemed a lot less serious when she saw someone who was normally so stoic and, dare she say it, _grumpy_ smiling like that. A smile that she had only ever seen him give Flayn, or her brother.

“Seems like they’re leaving us behind,” she said, and Seteth nodded.

“Rhea will be happy to see you,” he said, and she nodded in return. Both because she knew it was true, and because she felt the same way.

She and Seteth followed behind Indech and Macuil, who were walking down the hall with their arms wrapped around each other, chatting excitedly about something she and Seteth couldn’t quite hear. At the very least, Macuil looked a lot more cheerful than he had on the trip there— than he had since she had met him, in fact.

They caught up to the two of them easily, strolling as casually as they were, and all four of them spilled out onto the elaborate balcony that adjoined Rhea’s quarters.

For a split second, Rhea didn’t notice them— or, more likely, was too polite to ignore Byleth while she was in the middle of a sentence, just to acknowledge them. Then, suddenly, it was like someone gave her a static shock; she went completely stiff, and her head swivelled so suddenly in their direction Beleth was surprised she didn’t go for a weapon.

She smiled and started to raise her hand to wave, but Rhea… Wasn’t looking at her at all, as she rose slowly out of her chair with wide eyes. It hurt for a moment, but that hurt was replaced with fascination at the way Rhea took a cautious step forward, looking less like a woman approaching a family member she hadn’t seen in a long time, and more like someone approaching a wounded animal and trying not to get mauled.

“Macuil,” she said, her voice breathless and streaked with something very much like awe, not quite the same sort of awe Beleth often heard her speak about Sothis with but something not entirely _un_ like it, either. “I… Never thought…”

“Seiros,” Macuil said, voice strained, and Beleth had been so focused on looking at _Rhea_ that she hadn’t been paying attention to Macuil at all— and looking over at him now, the only thing she could say about him was that he looked… _Uncomfortable_.

Which actually might have been putting it lightly. He actually looked like he would much rather jump off the balcony and take his chances than be there. It took him a long moment to even be able to _look_ at Rhea— and when he did, he looked at her not like a sister, but the way someone might look at someone who they had just remembered they didn’t much like, with the little scrunched crease of his nose that he’d had when scowling about the townsfolk not so long ago.

Beleth felt that unease return— worse, now, it felt like ice in the pit of her stomach.

It was obvious, now that she was thinking about it— if Macuil and Indech hadn’t come back or sought out their siblings for a thousand years, there had to be a reason for it. She’d assumed it had just been bad memories; from what she knew about Rhea’s past, there were plenty of those, and even she and Seteth seemed sort of awkward around each other even though they were definitely close.

She wasn’t going to rule out bad memories, but if that was the case, they were much worse memories than she had thought…

“You look… _Well_.” The way he said it sounded less like someone reuniting with a sibling after a thousand years and more like someone trying to make awkward small talk with an acquaintance whose name they couldn’t quite remember. (She had watched her father struggle through that dilemma often enough.)

“As do you,” Rhea replied, and smiled, though there was something sad in it— something in her eyes. “You haven’t changed a bit since last I saw you.”

“You have,” Macuil said immediately, looking her up and down, arms crossed over his chest. “I never would have imagined you trading your armour for… Whatever _this_ is.”

He gestured vaguely to her, but by context Beleth knew he was talking about her outfit. Which she felt was pretty bold of him, considering she had dressed him in the first pair of cheap travelling clothes she could find, so that he would have something to wear other than the cloak she had brought with her to fend off the desert sands if she needed to.

“Though you did cling to your tastes in ostentatious headwear, I see,” Macuil continued, looking at her crown.

Rhea laughed, and Beleth thought maybe the tension would dissipate— but one look at Macuil’s face told a different story.

The moment he heard Rhea laugh, his sour expression fell even further, into something more like a mask, until Beleth couldn’t even tell if he was angry or confused or— or _what_.

(Was that how people always felt when looking at her and Byleth? No wonder they had always called them demons…)

“I’m only here to see what a mess the two of you have made of yourselves,” Macuil said, turning away and already walking back towards the entrance. “Don’t get too comfortable. I certainly won’t be.”

As soon as Macuil turned away, Rhea’s face fell, and when Seteth and Indech followed after Macuil— Seteth calling after him to _wait_ so they could figure out a cover identity and story for him before he walked face first into someone who would start asking _questions_ — Beleth stayed behind.

Byleth rose from his seat, too, and gave a polite bow to Rhea as he passed so he could follow them, and then it was just the two of them standing on the balcony. Rhea sighed and sat back down, resting her head in her hand and looking weary— the sort of weary that Beleth never saw her show in front of other people, that she couldn’t _afford_ to show.

The Archbishop couldn’t show weakness, after all. Beleth was honoured to be one of the few people who ever got to see _Rhea_ doing so.

“It is good to see you,” Rhea said as Beleth sat down across from her without waiting for an invitation; she knew she already had one. There was exhaustion in her voice, but she also sounded genuinely glad. Beleth felt the same. “When you and your brother left so suddenly with only the smallest warning, I have to admit I feared we might not see either of you again.”

“You thought we were running away?” she asked, genuinely surprised, and Rhea laughed.

“Nothing like that,” she said. “I know how dedicated the both of you are to your students. Though with what a handful some of them can be, I could hardly blame you for wanting to take a… Vacation, of sorts.”

She laughed, and turned to face the edge of the balcony. From this angle, there wasn’t much of a view, but Beleth had a feeling she wasn’t looking at anything in particular— just lost in thought.

“Fodlan is a dangerous place,” she continued, although it almost sounded like a separate thought. “Something I’m sure you know well, considering Jeralt spent most of your life dragging you to every possible corner of it. But the two of you out on your own… Worried me. And Seteth, of course. Perhaps Seteth even more than I, if his fussing was any indication.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you,” Beleth said, feeling guilty— not only had she worried Rhea, but she had brought home an unexpected problem for her to deal with.

Rhea shook her head. “Think nothing of it,” she said. “The wonderful gift the two of you have given me more than makes up for it. I’m just glad to see the both of you are safe. And… I’m glad to have your company, once more.”

She reached out across the table and took Beleth’s hands where they were folded, cupping them in her own. She had never found Rhea’s hands especially warm— but the coolness, the gentle scrape of her well-manicured nails against Beleth’s calloused hands, combined with the soft smile she was giving her? Was just as comforting as any warmth could have been.

“I’m glad to be back,” Beleth said, and meant it, not just because the journey had been grueling and Macuil had tried her patience— but because in the short time since they had come there, Garreg Mach had truly become her home. “Though— I can’t help but feel like, instead of bringing you a gift, I’ve just brought something that’s going to make your life difficult. I didn’t realize Macuil was going to react like that.”

“It’s alright,” Rhea assured her, turning Beleth’s hand over so her palm was facing upwards and gently tracing the tip of her finger along one of the lines in her hand. “The last time we saw each other was a very stressful time in our lives, and even besides that, he was always a bit… Difficult. He’ll warm up in time, and no matter his attitude, seeing him is still a greater gift than you could possibly imagine.”

Rhea folded Beleth’s hand between her own and pulled it up to her face so she could press a soft kiss to her knuckles.

“Thank you. Both of you,” she said softly against her hand. Beleth unfolded her hand and Rhea allowed her to do so. She reached up to cup Rhea’s face in her hand, rubbing her thumb across the ridge of her cheekbone. “No matter how may difficult it may prove to be, I feel… _Incredibly_ lucky to have my family together again like this.”

_Not all of it_ , Beleth thought, and the words had hardly crossed her mind when she felt a deep pang of sadness in her chest and in the back of her mind. Was it her, or was it Sothis? She had no idea, but she also wasn’t sure the distinction was important.

Neither was worrying about things she couldn’t change. The way Rhea was looking at her, any doubt was removed from her mind. Even if bringing Macuil back had been a challenge— far more of a challenge than she was guessing Byleth had, since Indech seemed perfectly pleasant— and even if he was now determined to be a jackass about it even further, seeing Rhea happy meant she had done something right.

She just hoped it didn’t come back to bite her in the ass.


	2. rhea/seteth

“Ah… Ahhhh… _Cichol…_ ”

It had been so long since Rhea had allowed herself to feel so at ease with saying that name aloud… And so long since she had allowed herself to lose herself so easily in _pleasure_.

Truly, Beleth’s arrival had awoken _many_ things in her, just as her brother had awoken many things in Seteth…

And an even more recent arrival had woken up feelings and _urges_ that she had long thought buried.

Normally, Rhea tried to comport herself with the utmost composure, as was to be expected of the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros— but Seiros herself had always been a creature of passion given over to the pursuit of all different kinds of pleasure, whether it was love or sex or revenge…

And right now, she didn’t feel like being Rhea. She wanted to be Seiros.

And what _Seiros_ wanted was the sight of her brother Cichol with his face buried between her legs, peeking up at her from under the dark green fringe that had fallen into his face when she had taken his circlet off.

She pushed that fringe back out of his eyes as she buried her fingers in his hair, her nails scraping at his scalp, hard enough that she knew it must be painful— though judging by the hazy and hungry look in his eyes, it must have been just on the side of _pleasure_.

_Seiros_ used the hand in his hair to guide him, thrusting her hips against his face as she chased her own pleasure. She moaned and whined and _growled_ , completely wordless in her pleasure beyond the occasional broken moan of Cichol’s name.

Cichol moaned against her as his tongue, far longer and more prehensile than a human’s, pushed inside of her— and the moaning turned to almost a whine, like she was the sweetest thing he had ever tasted and he was desperate for more.

Seiros growled at the way he dug his fingers into the soft meat of her thighs, and couldn’t resist the urge to lock her legs around his head, keeping him _exactly_ where they _both_ wanted him to be.

As he licked into her and sucked at her clit, Seiros felt her peak rising, a warmth in her body that made her limbs quiver and the grip of both her hands and her thighs tighten— but no. Not yet.

She pulled Cichol away from her cunt, making him whine as though she was denying him a favourite treat— and didn’t _that_ stoke the fire in her belly— but he didn’t complain out loud, and followed her guidance as she drew him up and guided him to join her on the bed, laying him down and straddling him.

“Enough, Cichol,” she said, breathy and commanding. “I want to _feel_ you.”

“...As you wish, Seiros,” he said, but in his tone she could hear the unspoken _please_ — just as she could feel his need and desire clear enough as she rubbed his hard cock along the cleft of her ass.

When she teased him by lifting her hips and running the head of his cock across her slit, letting it catch on her hole, his tight grip on her thighs returned and a growl ripped from his throat.

As she decided to take pity on him and sink down onto his cock, admiring the way his growl turned into a whine, the only thing she could think was,

_I’ve missed this_ …

The first few days that Macuil and Indech were back with them were actually the easiest, surprisingly enough.

Logistically, it was a nightmare. Maintaining the careful balance of their duties while keeping their identities a secret was already difficult enough; introducing two more people who had appeared from nowhere, but who they also wished to keep close and spend time with, was bound to be difficult.

But that difficulty gave the two of them something to focus on. The Eisner twins had already, thankfully, gone over the importance of keeping their identities a secret during their trips back; now it was simply a matter of constructing believable stories and identities for them that would allow them to move freely around the Monastery and spend time with them without drawing any undue attention or bringing their own identities into question.

Not an _easy_ task, certainly, but one which she knew how to handle.

What she did _not_ know how to handle were the emotions that came with being able to see her long lost brothers’ faces every day.

They chose new names for themselves— Mercutio for Macuil, and Tybalt for Indech. The names suited them. It would take some getting used to for everyone involved, but she and Cichol had managed, so she was certain they would adjust as well.

Neither of them seemed especially interested in _adjusting_ to life at the Monastery, but she couldn’t blame them. Indech had always been an especially shy man, as socially awkward as he was physically capable, and Macuil…

Well. He was Macuil.

It was after they had established a loose explanation for why they had suddenly come to the Monastery and how they knew Rhea and Seteth that the real trouble began.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

The monk who had been giving his report bowed deeply to her and swiftly left the room.

It was her last petitioner of the day— for now, at least— and as usual, the process left her feeling… _Drained_. Truly, she had held the position for so long, going through the same motions day in and day out, that it was both mechanical and exhausting, though she maintained her careful facade of contented grace.

Of course, where once her only option for relaxing and escaping the bonds of her duties for a short time was to retreat to her private quarters in solitude, now she had _other_ options.

Normally she and Beleth would have tea together every day after her classes finished, a tradition that Rhea had come to not only enjoy but practically _depend_ on, but the young Professor was busy with live training exercises in the mountains with her students and would not be back for several days.

Rhea refused to let herself fall back into old routines, though— not when there were so many new and exciting (and frankly somewhat terrifying) possibilities.

Not since Beleth had opened her eyes to the fact that she need not isolate herself from everyone— that she need not be so _alone_.

Though it used to be very uncommon for her to wander the monastery, especially during the day, it had become far more usual— even _common_ — ever since Beleth had arrived.

She made her way down to the main hall, then around the side that took her past the knights’ hall. Catherine and Shamir were standing just in the entrance, casually chatting; she waved to them as she passed, and Catherine waved back, while Shamir gave her an acknowledging nod.

Then it was down through the stables, past the market— the gatekeeper greeted her happily— and over to the lake. It was a bit of a roundabout route, but it helped her avoid getting caught up with anyone who might wish to demand her time or attention, and besides— it was a nice _scenic_ route that helped remind her about all of the _good_ things about the monastery that had been her home for countless years.

There, at the lake, she found exactly what she was looking for; Seteth, Macuil, and Indech standing together. This was normally the time when Seteth would be locked away in his office in the depths of paperwork, but ever since their brothers had arrived she had noticed that he spent less and less time in there.

She was glad for him. Though she greatly appreciated everything Seteth did to help her keep the Church in order, and the work he did was invaluable, she had always thought that he needed to take more breaks.

Even if his current break seemed to involve him _scolding_ their brothers, if the furrowing of his brow and the sheepish look on Indech’s face were anything to go by.

Rhea approached the three of them, but it was Macuil— who was clearly not listening to Seteth’s lecture— who noticed her first.

She raised her hand to wave, but Macuil merely… _Stared_ at her, and it made her pause with her hand partly raised.

Then, his eyes slid off of her and he turned to walk away, uncaring of the fact that Seteth was in the middle of his sentence.

Seteth said something to him, and Indech quickly noticed his departure, but Macuil didn’t slow or stop, heading for the stairs that would lead him up to the dormitory area. Indech put a hand on Seteth’s shoulder, said something to him, then followed after Macuil.

Rhea clenched her first as she let her hand drop to her side, taking a deep breath. It stung, and it was impossible to articulate just _how much_. But she was too long practiced at hiding her true self to let it show on her face.

Instead she swept up behind Seteth, who was too preoccupied with shuffling through the papers he was holding and looking annoyed at Macuil’s actions to notice her approach.

“It seems like our guests are adjusting well, hm?”

“L-Lady Rhea!”

Seteth didn’t quite _jump_ , but he straightened up and clutched his papers to his chest so abruptly it was like he’d been prodded with a Thunder spell.

Rhea gave him her best placid smile in return.

“My apologies… I was so caught up, I didn’t see you there…” He cleared his throat. Rhea gave him a moment to compose himself. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Actually, there is.” Her smile went from her usual Archbishop Smile to something showing the first few hints of being genuine. “I’ve finished with my work for the day, and I was hoping you and I could… Chat, for a bit.”

“That sounds… Lovely.”

They did not end up ‘chatting’ for a bit.

Well, perhaps that was unfair to say. They _did_ chat, walking arm in arm through the monastery towards the staircase to the second floor, about nothing in particular— what Rhea’s meetings for the day had been about, what Seteth’s day had been like, and other such small talk.

It was just that, once they actually _arrived_ in her private chambers, there was very little ‘chatting’ happening— beyond when Rhea pushed Seteth up against her door as soon as it closed behind them, kissed him fiercely, and asked, “Is this… Okay?”

He hadn’t even responded to her. He had simply stared at her with wide eyes and nodded.

It had been almost… Cute. It was easy to compare him to a blushing virgin even when she knew exactly how untrue that was.

And now, here they were; Seiros sitting on Cichol’s cock, not raising or lowering herself, just rolling her hips back and forth, enjoying the weight and feel of him _inside_.

Cichol had his head tilted back, his mouth hanging open as he let out a low, constant whine crawling its way out of the back of his throat. His hands on her thighs were gripping so tightly he was leaving white marks, but rather than forceful, it simply felt… _Desperate_. As though it was all he could do to hold himself back, and he wanted to be _good_.

That was most _certainly_ cute.

It wasn’t just to torment him, though; it had been so long, _too_ long, and she needed a moment to adjust.

She and Cichol weren’t human, after all, much as they might look it— and their anatomy wasn’t human either.

Though her own differences were probably far less obvious than his, Seiros had decided to be cautious anyway, and hadn’t allowed herself to take any lovers less they notice how hot she was inside, how the folds of her cunt were not as soft but were almost ridged, made to draw a lover in and keep them inside until she was packed full with cum and— if she was lucky— eggs.

For Cichol, without the comforting embrace of his siblings, it must have been impossible until they had decided to bring the twins into their lives— not only the ones they showed to the public but the secret ones they kept hidden to protect themselves and what little family they had left.

After all, it would be hard for someone who was pretending to be a normal human man to explain why he had a tapered, ridged dick that was as thick as someone’s fist.

Seiros let out a full-bodied shudder at the way Cichol’s cock twitched inside of her. Finally, she felt like she could start moving— like her body had finally remembered what it was like for them to be joined like this.

Their bodies were literally made for each other, after all.

“Ah… Cichol…”

“ _Seiros_ …”

He sounded absolutely _debauched_ , his voice every bit as strained as his muscles while he tried not to give himself completely over to pleasure.

Much as she liked seeing him behaving himself, and appreciated his restraint, that was not what they needed right now— it was not what _she_ needed right now.

She pushed herself up and slammed herself back down on his cock, his whining turning into a hiss that was far more animal than human. Seiros smirked to herself as she rolled her hips, leaning down to press them together, her chest to his and their lips so close she could feel his hot breath on her face.

“You aren’t going to let me do _all_ the work, are you, _brother_?” She could feel their lips brushing together with every word. “I want us to feel good together, Cichol… Please, stop holding yourself back…”

“Seiros…”

Had she rendered him unable to say anything but her name? Just that thought was enough to make an uncontrollable heat rise in her stomach.

She sat back up, bouncing on his cock with renewed vigor, but Cichol followed her up rather than staying down. His hands moved from her thighs to her hips, using that same grip to lift her up and drop her back down.

Goddess forgive her, she was so _full_. They fit together so perfectly, his ridges and hers scraping across each other in her cunt, which swallowed his girth easily. She had more than enough strength to fuck herself on Cichol’s cock with reckless abandon, but she had spent enough time being ‘in control’— now she let _him_ set the pace and chase his own pleasure, partly as a reward for how well he had done with his mouth, and partly because she just… _Wanted_ him to feel good, wanted to _see_ him feeling good and knowing it was because of _her_.

The hands on her hips were big enough that even as Cichol guided her along his cock, his hips thrusting up to meet his own motions, his fingers dug into the plush swell of her ass at the same time. She would have bruises, for sure— she could already feel them forming under the skin. Sitting was going to be hard. She couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to spend her time trying to go about her duties as the Archbishop knowing that she had marks on her body from her brother and most stalwart companion using her for his own pleasure.

The thought of someone even potentially _seeing_ those marks— it was so overwhelmingly arousing that the steady heat in her stomach rose to an almost violent peak, her orgasm slamming into her like a punch to the stomach. She had to grab at Cichol’s shoulders to stabilize herself as her quivering legs threatened to give out under her, her pussy gushing around his cock.

But even then, Cichol didn’t stop to let her catch her breath or let her recover; he simply kept moving, wrapping his arms around her to hold her to his chest, thrusting up into her rather than pulling her up and down on his cock. It was Seiros’ turn to whine, the overstimulation making her pussy ache, but she simply turned her head and let it rest on Cichol’s shoulder, her lips going to his throat to nip and suck at it and leave her mark where the high collar of his robes would cover it.

She could tell he was getting close, from the way his panting breaths got faster, his muscles started to tense up under her, and his cock twitched and pulsed inside of her.

“Please, Cichol,” she moaned, pausing in her ministrations just long enough to get the words out. “Cum inside of me…”

“Oh, _sister_ …”

And that, plus several final desperate thrusts into her cunt, was all it took to push him over the edge.

When Seiros had called for vengeance, all that remained of her family— her _people_ — had come to her aid. No matter their differences, they had been united by their struggle— for revenge, for survival, for love. All that mattered was that they shared an enemy, and thus, a goal… A heart.

When the war was done and all that was left were ashes and regrets, though… Then it became obvious just how deep the divide between them truly was.

They were siblings, the only ones of their kind left, aside from Cichol’s daughter— the only family they had.

And yet, being family wasn’t enough.

Indech simply wanted peace. No, more than that— he wanted tranquility. When he left, it was with a fond, if sad, farewell. Seiros hadn’t wanted to see him go— but she understood that for someone as gentle and as shy as him, no matter his physical strength, it was better for him to exist somewhere far apart from this new world. Somewhere he could get the rest he deserved and wouldn’t have to play the figurehead, the role she had resigned herself to…

But Macuil? For Macuil, it was… Different.

Indech wanted to rest, and who could blame him? The war had dragged on for so long, and when it was all said and done, there was so little left for them— their ancestral home razed, their mother dead, and Seiros had made a choice.

It had been the only choice she _could_ make— the choice that would protect them, that would ensure the _survival_ of their race— but it was not a choice that Macuil could accept.

When they had parted, there had been no fondness to it.

She had not expected that she would ever see him again.

(Of course, she had also not expected someone like Beleth and Byleth to come into their lives— miracle workers as they were, and absolutely none of that was because of the Crest of Flames.)

In all honesty, she had not been sure she would ever see _any_ of them again after they parted ways.

That Cichol had come when she called, for no other reason than that she needed his help… It had been a blessing that she had never been quite able to put into words how much it meant to her.

It was just the two of them, after all— no one else could ever understand what they had been through, what their lives were like…

Rhea had come to rely on Seteth, because the business of running the Church of Seiros was grueling and even the slightest slip up could be disastrous— having a second in command who she trusted not only to do his job well but also to understand her perspective and the reasons for her choices. When she was already trying so hard to hide her identity, having to worry about staying organized and keeping the peace on top of that… Well. It had weighed on her for a long time, so his arrival was truly a blessing.

But.

_Seiros_ had come to rely on _Cichol_ because the crushing weight of her loneliness would have been too much to bear without him.

And now, when their brothers were back in their lives— so close she could see them every day, could _touch_ them if she so wished— and yet still so distant… Indech still wandering around as though in a daze, unused to existing within society, and Macuil barely even able to stomach _looking_ at her… 

Now, she needed Cichol more than ever.

Seiros sighed as she snuggled in close to her brother and rested her head against his shoulder.

They were both sweaty and sticky, making a mess of her bedding that would be difficult to explain— thankfully the cleaning staff of Garreg Mach were already quite used to keeping secrets, and not asking too many questions.

Even more than that, they both had work to be doing, and sooner or later someone would no doubt come looking for them, which would mean they would have to answer some awkward questions if they were found like this… Even though no one but Byleth and Beleth knew the true nature of their connection, there would still be many questions if someone found the Archbishop in bed with her advisor and right hand...

But she was tired, and content, and the post-coital haze beat back her fears and anxieties for a little while… She couldn’t bring herself to get up, not quite yet.

She couldn’t bring herself to go back to being _Rhea_ , and letting him go back to being _Seteth_ , quite yet. She needed to be _Seiros_ and _Cichol_ for a little while longer.

It seemed like Cichol agreed with her, because he sighed and turned into the embrace, his arm looped around her back and holding her against his chest. She could feel the warmth of his breath against her hair, and judging by the way his breathing was slowing and evening out, she had a feeling he would fall asleep if they stayed much longer…

She gently scraped her nails against his chest, not hard enough to hurt or to leave any _noteworthy_ marks, just enough to leave little red trails and hopefully keep him from falling asleep in her bed.

“Mm… What are you thinking about?”

His voice was so quiet, almost hoarse— they must have been louder than she thought they were being, but thankfully no one was permitted to enter her quarters to be able to _hear_ them.

“Hm?”

She lifted her head, resting her chin against his chest, peering up at him with her head tilted slightly in questioning.

“You have a _look_ on your face,” was his only explanation. “Besides, you wouldn’t have called me up here if something wasn’t bothering you… It’s Macuil, isn’t it?”

She should have known better than to think she could hide that from him. They had all been very close, once, and while there were things about her that even Cichol didn’t know, those things were few and far between.

“...It’s nothing worth talking about,” she said with a sigh, rather than trying to deny it outright, because she knew better.

“He just needs time to adjust. He’s been away for so long, and you know how he is— slow to warm up to anything. He’ll come around.”

Macuil would probably come around to life at the Monastery. He might even be able to adjust to living around humans, maybe even come to _like_ a few of them, if she was being optimistic.

But would he ever really forgive her?

She wished she had Cichol’s confidence.

“...Perhaps you’re right,” she said, not knowing what else to say, not without acting as though she knew their brother any better than _he_ did. Although she doubted he really believed what he was saying, at least not completely— perhaps he had more faith in her that Macuil would change his mind, but he was a smart man. He must have known it was hardly absolute.

Still, Cichol was trying to make her feel better— and that, at least, she could appreciate.

“Just make sure you keep them both out of trouble, alright?” She started drawing patterns on his skin with her nails. “There’s plenty of it for them to get into here…”

“I’ll try my best… But you know what those two are like. I can’t make any promises.”

And when Cichol laughed, Seiros laughed, too— because for just one moment, despite the weight of her anxieties, everything felt _right_.


End file.
